An Exploration of Filth
The following quest was run by Toby on Saturday 14th January 2012. Players who participated where: Ben (Samurai), Michael (RogueInvestigator), Cohen (Monk), Conner (Sorceror), Clayton (Barbarian), Ewan (Cleric) and Hayden (Rogue). Prior to the commencement of play the Prelude was read to the players. Typically I would only post a summary of the adventure and what took place for record keeping purposes. I have included all of my notes on this quest as well this time so that they may serve as a useful guide or tool for other potential Game Master The players began their quest in the One-Eared Bugbear Tavern where they where approached by a foul smelling, grime covered drunk by the name of Benny. He informed the players that he had had great success in recovering Mana Crystals and that if he could then surely a band of stalwart adventurers could too. To support his story he pulled from his pocket a number of Tiny Mana Crystals. The players kindly purchased Benny a few further beverages and in return Benny informed the party that after the asteroid landed there was a big storm and a lot of the mana crystals that had fallen upon the actual city istelf where washed away into the sewers below. Benny claimed that most of the folk around town where too proud to go digging about in the muck in those tunnels, so there shouls still be plenty town there, just waiting to be snatched up. Early the next morning our eager and inexperienced adventurers head down to the docks on the bay and found the sewer entrence that Benny has described to them the night before. After a brief moment of preperation they entered into the dark and damp sewer system. Before too long they found a large chamber with many pipes funneling sewage into a pit in the centre of the room. Drains from up above shone sunlight into the room, making the task at hand easier. The Cleric (Ewan) ''had cleverley prepared Detect Magic earlier and was able to discern the precense of a Mana Crystal in the pool of sewage. It was the Goliath Barbarian (Clayton) who threw himself into the task (Quite literally) and fished out the mana crystal. The landing around the edge of the room was quite slippery and a few of the party members also fell into the pool, spoiling some of their provisions and becoming diseased. Continuing further into the sewers the freshly cleaned (by way of the Sorceror's Prestidigitation spell) entered into another large room, this one home to a large mound of rubbish and filthy, built up in almost a honeycomb fashion. Upon spying a blue glow from within the mound it was the Cleric that boldy threw a warhammer at the pile in the hopes of breaking it up. Serveral large rats exploded from the mound and attacked the party, although they didn't put up much of a fight and where quickly vanquished by our heroes-in-training. Breaking apart the remains of the rubbish heap the party quickly recovered the ''Small ''Mana Crystal. '''The original quest only lists 3 Dire Rats as living in the rubbish heap, however due to the number of players this was double to 6 to create more of a challenge.' The players then head down the left tunnel and found themselves in an interesting room. Large, cylindrical and with a large spinning paddle which stirred the sewage 10 meters below. Sitting in the centre of the paddle was a Medium ''Mana Crystal. Initially the Monk attempted to use his acrobatics and balance to walk across the one foot wide blade of the paddle but fell fairly promptly, a safety rope held by the Barbarian bringing him back to safety. After some discussion and other failed attempts to regain the prize, the party gave up and head back through the room with the now destroyed rats nest and up the other passage into another large room. This room was home to an Otyugh and it was quitely happily feeding itself on the effluent and refuse that the sewer system provided. It did however appear to be sitting on a glowing blue light. Some discussion was had amongst the players and some knowledge checks made and they came to the conclusion that the Otyhugh itself wasn't an evil creature and so they would attempto communicate and possibly even barter with it. After feeding it some of the dead rats the group persuaded the creature to move into the next room (Where the battle with the rats had been fought), however the Otyugh wasn't stupid and it took the Mana Crystal with it. Frustrated, the Barbarian challenged the beast which in turn replied by slapping the Goliath. A battle insued resulting in the Monk being nearly bitten clean in half and the Sorcerer slapped unconscious. Horribly wounded though the Barbarian convinced the Otyhugh to yield and it dropped the ''Medium ''Mana Crystal and fled back to it's room. The Cleric healed the injured party members. '''The original quest instead has the party confronting two Troglodytes. Again though, due to the size of the party this was upgraded to one of my favorite creatures, the Otyugh.' Before leaving the sewers the heroes had another attempt at obtaining the Mana Crystal in the room with the large spinning paddle, this time trying brute strength to stop the rotation. It seemed no success was to be had so the players retired to the surface of town (Some slipping into the pool of sewage again). Each player (Including Michael who had to leave early) earnt 200 XP. The Mana Crystals where sold to Mondain and the gold shared amongst the 6 remaining players. Below is a copy of the quest notes I created for running this adventure: An Exploration of Filth 1) Sewer Entrance Murky water trickles between your feet along the floor, dropping over the lip of the pipe and splashing into the bay not more than ten feet below. The pungent stench of raw sewage and sea water from the bay blend to create a wonderful fragrance unlike anything you have smelt before. While the cool breeze blowing out of the dark tunnel ahead of you is unpleasant to say the least, it's a welcome relief to the burning sun on your backs. While the idea of trudging through effluent doesn't appeal to you in the slightest, little hope remains for adventurers of your calibre to find any mana shards without serious injury or death. With a heavy sigh you reluctantly enter into the darkness of the Grey Sewage System (Tunnel B13 to be exact). The brick walls are coated with slimy mildew and other fungus looking growth. Moisture drips down the walls and from the grimy ceiling creating a constant dripping noise that echoes throughout the tunnels. The filthy water is little more than ankle high at this point, and while thoroughly unpleasant, does not offer any hindrance to your movement. Further down the passage you can see a shaft of light piercing the gloom. ' 2) Sewage Pool A beam of light shines into this room from a gutter drain higher up in the ceiling. It illuminates a pooling room of sorts. A number of pipes, most of which no bigger than a foot in diameter funnel wastage into a large pool which dominates the centre of this chamber. The slippery brick landing you are standing on runs the circumference of the room and on the other side you see another large tunnel similar to the one you have entered from. You peer into the pool of stinking goop looking for any signs of mana crystals that may have fallen down the drain but if there are any they must be below the surface of the horrendously smelling filth. Perhaps there is a way of knowing, without wading waist high is sewage? There is indeed a mana crystal at the bottom of the pool. A simple detect magic spell will easily locate it. Detection and retrieval of said crystal rests on the creativity of the players. The mana crystal is ''Tiny and only worth 25gp.'' Slippery Edge - Moving around the landing requires a DC 10 Reflex Save for every three squares of movement. Failure results in players falling into the pool. Sewage Pool - The pool is about 3 foot deep and filled with all sorts of chunky goodness. It's far from hygienic however and anyone entering the pool must risk catching Filth Fever. Disease (Ex) ''Filth fever'': Bite—injury; save ''Fort DC 11; ''onset ''1d3 days; ''frequency ''1/day; ''effect ''1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; ''cure '' consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based. 3) Passage A ''You hear the sound of scratching and skittering up ahead, probably rats. Probably. 4) Rats Nest You enter into another room or chamber, not as large as the previous one, and much drier. Peering into the gloomy darkness you can just make out two more passage ways, similar to the one you enter from now. One to the left of you, the other to the right. While the floor is still damp here and the never ender dripping water is still present, there appears to be much less flow through this room. Smack bang in the centre of this room is a large pile of junk and debris. Your light catches the glint of tiny red eyes AND a dim blue glow, possibly a mana shard buried deep inside the mound of muck. If the mound of garbage is disturbed in any way then 3 Dire Rats burst out and attack, defending their rubbish and the mana crystal. Dire Rat CR 1/3 The mana crystal inside is Small and worth 50gp. Sorting through the filth carefully also reveals 8gp, 14sp, 10cp and a brass Oak Tree Brooch (Once cleaned worth 20gp). 5) The Carousel of Filth The sounds of dripping water reach a crescendo as your approach what appears to be a large cylindrical room, easily 30 metres in diameter. The room itself is a large pit, the fluids churning some 10 metres below you. A very large metal spatular slowly rotates, whisking the sewage below for some unknown reason, the edge of the 1 foot wide blade moving past your feet as you look down, you estimate it takes a good minute to do a full rotation of the room. A large metal 'pin' for lack of a better word runs down the middle of the large paddle and is obviously the driving force behind the device turning. Conveniently resting on top of this central pin is a mana shard. The Gods, it seems, aren't without a sense of humour. '' Only a person who is very dexterous should attempt to walk out across the edge of the blade to recover the crystal. Players may of course invent exciting and elaborate new ways to recover the crystal. It's 15 metres to the centre of the device and each meter of movement requires a Acrobatics Check DC 15. Failure results in a Reflex Save DC 15. Failure again results in falling into the churning pool below. Sewage Pool - It's disgusting and it's deep, at least 8 foot. Players with heavy equipment may struggle. This stuff is thicker than water too, and very unpleasant to be in. It's also likely to make anyone who falls in it incredibly sick (Filth Fever). There is a rusted metal ladder against the wall leading back up to the ledge, although players will have a time of it as they are propelled around the room by the large paddle. '''Disease (Ex) 'Filth fever: Bite—injury; save ''Fort DC 11; ''onset ''1d3 days; ''frequency ''1/day; ''effect ''1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; ''cure ''2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Constitution-based. The mana crystal in the centre of the room is ''Medium '' and worth 100gp. Of course once a player has reached the centre of the room and picked up the shard, they need to get back out again. 6) Troglodyte Surprise! ''As you progress down the hallway and whole new stench finds it ways into your nostrils. This smell is so bad it makes the sewage smell like a patch of daisies. You enter into a chamber similar in size to the one you just left. At the far side of the room you see a good sized mana crystal on the ground, to man sized, lizard like creatures standing over it turn and hiss at you as you enter the room. Tro glod yte CR 1 With the creatures slain you now get a better chance to look about the room. No other exits appear visible, although a number of small pipes poke from the walls around you, the mana crystal must have travelled down one of them. The mana crystal is Medium in size and worth 100gp. Category:Quests